Discusses a variety of adult basic education (ABE) assessment strategies at the individual and program level. Questions which must be considered in selecting assessment approaches; Importance of adult students' literacy skills; What assessment instruments in ABE programs are used to do; Advantages and disadvantages of standardized tests; Description of other types of assessment..

Offers five key principles for assessment of adult learning. Commonly held premises from which these principles are derived; Illustrations of assessment practices in different locations in the United States; What adult-oriented assessment suggests.

Assessing participant learning in online environments provides benefits and challenges. Fortunately, the available technology tools allow for a wide range of assessment techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].

The web-based formative assessment developed in this research is named Formative Assessment Module of the Web-based Assessment and Test Analysis System (FAM-WATA). FAM-WATA is a multiple-choice web-based formative assessment module containing six effective strategies: ‘repeat the test’, ‘correct answers are not given’, ‘query scores’, ‘ask questions’, ‘monitor answering history’, and ‘all pass and then reward’. This research explored the effectiveness of FAM-WATA, cognitive styles and e-learning, and student attitudes towards the six strategies of FAM-WATA. A total of 503 seventh-grade students in central Taiwan were valid in this research. Overall results indicated that students displayed a positive attitude towards the six strategies of FAM-WATA. In addition, results also showed that students in an e-learning environment equipped with FAM-WATA achieved better learning effectiveness, and that field independent students appeared to make better use of FAM-WATA strategies than field dependent students. This research concluded that FAM-WATA benefited student learning in an e-learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].

This article focuses on the design of competency-based performance assessment in e-learning. Though effort has been invested in designing powerful e-learning environments, relatively little attention has been paid to the design of valid and reliable assessments in such environments, leaving many questions to educational developers and teachers. As a solution to this problem, a systematic approach to designing performance assessments in e-learning contexts is presented, partly based on the 4C/ID model. This model enables the construction of realistic whole tasks instead of advocating education that is restricted to more isolated skills. A new assessment procedure also implies an alternative view of instructional design, learning and assessment. The requirements for the learning environment are addressed. Examples from a virtual seminar are presented to illustrate the design approach. The article concludes with the identification of possible pitfalls related to the approach and gives directions for future research. (Authors' abstract)

Competency-based university education, in which lifelong learning and flexible learning are key elements, demands a renewed vision on assessment. Within this vision, Assessment of Prior Learning (APL), in which learners have to show their prior learning in order for their goals to be recognised, becomes an important element. This article focuses on a first step in APL, namely students' self-assessment of their prior learning before entering university education. The main aim of the presented study is to examine the suitability of the use of self-assessment in APL. First, in an explorative study, the main sources for self-assessment are derived and the relation between sources and domain of study is investigated. Second, in a pre-test post-test research design, the hypothesis that students' self-assessment of prior learning related to a course changes after studying a domain-specific course is tested. Pre-test results reveal that students indicate that they have prior knowledge related to the chosen university programme. In general, this prior learning is obtained from study experience, work experience, books, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, TV, radio, film or video. A relation is found between the type of source and the university programme. The hypothesis that students change their self-assessment after a study period could not be confirmed. Based on these results, it is concluded that self-assessment in APL might be a suitable tool. Implications for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].

In this paper, the development of a methodology for the calculation of questions’ difficulty degree and creation of exams for distance education trainees is presented. The methodology is based on the principles of multicriteria decision analysis and multiobjective linear programming. The UTA* method is used in order to calculate the difficulty degree of any hypothetical question that can be described from the criteria defined and the Global Criterion method is used in order to solve the multiobjective mixed integer linear programming model that is constructed in order to create a test for the trainees. (Authors' abstract)

The study described in this article takes the view that distance education programs are dynamic systems with multiple constituencies. Literature on distance education programs as complex systems and on the critical constituency approach to program evaluation was used to guide the development of a questionnaire designed to assess the components of a distance education program. Instrument development was conducted in four phases using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The data from this study suggest that there are four major components of effectiveness in distance education programs: instruction, management, telecommuting, and support. Within each of these components there are from two to five subcomponents, 14 components in all, which can be used to assess distance education programs. The assessment scale which was developed measures these four components and their subcomponents. (Authors' abstract)

Progress assessment aims to assess students’ performance and progress during a course of study. Its purpose is primarily developmental—to help students improve learning. Progress assessment is of special value in distance education in that it can motivate or pace distance learners throughout their course of study. It can help the tutor monitor the learning process of distance learners, diagnose their problems and provide prompt help and support. However, few empirical studies have been reported in the literature that address the issue of progress assessment from the perspective of Chinese distance learners. This paper investigates the perceptions of Chinese distance learners with regard to the necessity of progress assessment and the way it is being implemented in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].

Online education has become deeply embedded in the offerings of most community colleges. This chapter discusses the challenges, models, and approaches to conducting assessment of student online learning and establishing outcomes for online education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].